Officials specialized in shariah law during the Austro-Hungarian period in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1878-1918)

Abstract

During the Austro-Hungarian period in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a number of non-Muslim Austro-Hungarian officials, as well as Bosnian Muslims themselves, specialized in shariah law. Their interest in shariah law was motivated by a desire to become acquainted with what formed an integral part of the traditional civilization code of Bosnia and Herzegovinas Muslims. In that way, they correspond exactly to the concept of European orientalists who studied Islamic civilization. Adalbert Schek, Franjo Kruszelnicki Mihail Zobkow, Ljudevit Farkaš and Eugen Sladović are among the Austro-Hungarian legal practitioners and scholars in Bosnia and Herzegovina who studied shariah law, and achieved important results in that field. Though it may have served the purposes of the occupation, the contribution of Austro-Hungarian professionals to the study of shariah law cannot be denied. They added to the understanding of shariah law from the perspective of the European concept of law, which covers a narrower range of issues than does shariah law. Their contribution is particularly marked in the use of a scholarly methodology and in their recognition of and identifying comparisons with similarities between European and shariah law. They were merely to confirm the belief among Muslims that orientalists and Islamic jurists have different starting-points in their study of shariah law. The starting-point of orientalists was cultural, economical and political subordination of the Islamic World to the West, while the starting-point of the islamic jurists was to secure independancy of the Islamic World through the reform of the Shariah law.